Party Wall questions

masamune

I have some questions on Party Wall notices for a rear (rectangular) extension on a 3 bed semi. The property has a side alley leading to a garage that will be demolished to form a patio.

Before serving the notices I am going to discuss my plans with the neighbours to assess their intentions.

For the attached neighbour Mr.A I am going to serve two notices,
a. notice of adjacent excavation (3 meters)
b. Line of junction notice.

For the line of junction I am going to include both notices, 1. new wall astride to the boundary, to use some more room. If that is rejected I will fall back to 2. new wall adjacent to the boundary.

There will be no work directly on the party wall itself.

For neighbour Mr.B of the adjacent property, we are separated by an alley with a width of about 3 meters. At first I was confused when an architect said there may be no requirement to serve them notice of Adjacent Excavation.
On second thought I believe the footings of the foundations may well fall within that distance under the ground. I would appreciate some advice on this, obviously less PW notices is better but prefer to be on the safe side.

On a side note, I was told that surveyors follow planning applications and spam the neighbours with letters to represent them. I want to approach and reassure my neighbours that every care will be taken. A builder with all the appropriate insurances will undertake the works. and cover any damaged. Of course I cannot prevent them from deciding to go with surveyors, especially when I will be the one bearing the costs.

Doozergirl

We have a board for home improvements etc.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=39

G_M

Tea and cake.

masamune

Doozergirl wrote: »

We have a board for home improvements etc.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of the subforum.

I thought the question is rather on the legal side and more relevant to the survey part discussed here.

masamune

G_M wrote: »

Tea and cake.

Heh, it is definitely part of the plan!

Cakes aside, another question I have about the structural plans to include with the notices. Do they need to be final or just the excavated area, i.e the foundation footprint, which is not going to change.

booksurr

this board is about buying and selling, not doing works and planning

the DIY board as referenced above is for your sort of questions

Doozergirl

masamune wrote: »

Thanks, I wasn't aware of the subforum.

I thought the question is rather on the legal side and more relevant to the survey part discussed here.

Party Wall surveys and disputes are completely different to a typical building survey. Very specialist.

The tea and cake approach is really the best one. Do not baffle your neighbours with the sort of talk in your OP. You need to minimise it.

Thus far, we have always managed to avoid having PWAs drawn up. Nobody in construction likes them at all. I think because the people that insist on them always end up being the difficut neighbours, because the nice ones just say yes.

We had 15 emails in one day (starting at 3am) from a neighbour who insisted that the PWA applied to a small amount of chipping into plaster which my OH had warned them about as a matter of courtesy. We said it didn't, ended up having to get a PWS out urgently to look at the wall and to write him a letter saying it didn't. He never even replied to it - after a full day of tantrums over email and verbally abusing our carpenter! Nice bloke.

masamune

booksurr wrote: »

this board is about buying and selling, not doing works and planning

the DIY board as referenced above is for your sort of questions

Thanks, can the mod please move this thread to avoid a double post?

masamune

Doozergirl wrote: »

The tea and cake approach is really the best one. Do not baffle your neighbours with the sort of talk in your OP. You need to minimise it.

Certainly, this is just for me to avoid missing on any legal obligations. The neighbours will not need to know more than required for the PW and a simple description of the work. But I have to make sure they understand and reassure them.

Thus far, we have always managed to avoid having PWAs drawn up. Nobody in construction likes them at all. I think because the people that insist on them always end up being the difficut neighbours, because the nice ones just say yes.

Yes, totally agree.

Any further advice or experiences would be much appreciated.

martindow

This is a good place to look for PWA information

http://www.partywalls.org.uk/

which contains some useful guides.

Pyramus and Thisbe is an excellent choice for the name of this organisation.

G_M

masamune wrote: »

Thanks, can the mod please move this thread to avoid a double post?

The forum is not sufficiently monitored for it to be likely a mod will see or do this.

I've found the http://www.diynot.com/diy/ forum pretty good for expert advice on all matters building-related.